The election of All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Monday Okpebholo was unanimously upheld by the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which is based in Abuja.
The tribunal’s three-member panel concluded that there was no reason to overturn the results of the state’s September 21, 2024, gubernatorial election based on the evidence that was presented to it.
In the lead judgment issued by the tribunal’s chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, filed a petition to challenge the declaration of Governor Okpebholo as the legitimate winner of the gubernatorial election. However, the petition was dismissed as without merit.
But in a quick response, Ighodalo promised to appeal the ruling in the Court of Appeal with his legal team.
The tribunal determined that the petitioners had not provided sufficient evidence to support their claim that the election’s results should be overturned.
It declared that it was the petitioners’ responsibility to demonstrate that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had returned Governor Okpebholo in an undue manner.
According to the panel, it is standard procedure for a petitioner to prevail based on the strength of their own argument rather than the defense’s weakness.
It stated that the petitioners included new facts in their reply that were not part of their substantive case, in violation of Section 16(1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act. The panel rejected the new facts and struck them out.
In contrast to the respondents’ stance, the panel accepted the documents the petitioners presented as bar evidence as legitimate.
The petitioners’ meticulous documentation of the wards and polling places where the alleged violations occurred was another observation made by the tribunal.
However, it ruled that the PDP and its candidate had simply thrown exhibits in front of it without providing the legally required testimony of qualified witnesses.
The tribunal concluded that the majority of the petitioners’ witnesses provided hearsay testimony, emphasizing that the petitioners’ case was doomed because they failed to present polling station agents, presiding officers, or election participants to testify.
According to the tribunal, the petitioners were still able to present the required and qualified witnesses to back up their claims despite Section 137 of the Electoral Act.
It also rejected the petitioners’ claim that INEC neglected to pre-record the majority of the election-related materials, in violation of Section 73(2) of the Electoral Act.
Furthermore, the tribunal determined that none of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines submitted prior to its activation showed that the total number of accredited voters was greater than the number of votes cast in the contested polling places.
“It is clear that items needed to prove over-voting are: Voters Register, BVAS machines, and Form EC8A,” the tribunal held, noting that the petitioners merely tendered what they termed as BVAS screenshots in aid of their allegation.
It equally held that the petitioners failed to prove their allegation that INEC did not substantially comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act in the conduct of the election.
The tribunal came to the conclusion that Governor Okpebholo would still win the gubernatorial election even if it took away the votes that the petitioners claimed were wrongfully attributed to the APC.
In the meantime, Ighodalo promised to appeal the ruling at the Court of Appeal through his legal team.
Ighodalo of the PDP, Okpebholo’s closest opponent, received 247,655 votes, while Okpebholo of the APC received 291,667, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The PDP and its candidate, however, were unhappy with the outcome and went to the tribunal to claim that the election was not carried out in a way that complied with the Electoral Act 2022.
In the petition marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, it was alleged that Governor Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of lawful votes cast in the election.
It was equally the contention of the petitioners that INEC failed to serialise and pre-record some of the sensitive materials deployed for the poll, a situation they said aided the rigging of the election in favour of the APC and its candidate.
Despite presenting the tribunal with 19 witnesses who testified and exhibits, the petitioners claimed that the results of 765 polling places in the state were calculated incorrectly.
A total of 153 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines utilized in 133 polling places were among the exhibits that the petitioners submitted.
They claimed that over-voting in favor of Okpebholo occurred as a result of the collation centers manipulating the results from these polling places.
